Florida Man Convicted in Federal Court in Las Vegas For Enticing a Juvenile to Engage in a Sexual Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 21, 2002

Las Vegas, Nev. - Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada, and Ellen B. Knowlton, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for Nevada announced that on June 20, 2002, following a three-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge Kent J. Dawson, JAMES ALLEN JAHNER, JR. was convicted by a jury in Las Vegas for traveling from Florida to Nevada to have sex with a juvenile, and for using a computer to entice a juvenile to have sex with him.

JAHNER, a resident of Pensacola, Florida, was arrested by FBI agents in April at the Suncoast Casino in Summerlin, after he followed through with plans to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl. JAHNER had made plans in "chat group" conversations on the Internet to meet the girl for sex. JAHNER was originally charged in a Criminal Complaint. On May 15, 2002, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas and charged with Travel With Intent to Engage in a Sexual Act With a Juvenile, and Coercion and Enticement of a Juvenile. JAHNER has been in custody since the time of his arrest at the Suncoast.

According to the allegations in the Criminal Complaint, JAHNER made contact with an undercover FBI agent on a Yahoo chat site entitled "I Love Older Men3." The agent told JAHNER that "she" was a 14-year-old freshman in high school in Las Vegas, Nevada. JAHNER, using the screen name "hawkeyefl2000," said he was a 44-year-old male named Jamey who lived in Pensacola, Florida. Within the first few minutes of their chat, "hawkeyefl2000" began discussing sex and wanted to know if the 14-year-old was a virgin. From January 24, 2002, through the time of the arrest, the undercover agent and JAHNER "spoke" 21 times through "instant messaging" on Yahoo, and four times over the telephone. On many other occasions, JAHNER tried to contact the undercover agent through Yahoo messenger, but the agent did not respond because he was not online at the time. Almost every conversation was sexually explicit, with JAHNER stating that he wanted to have various forms of sexual contact with the undercover agent, and that he wanted to broadcast pictures of this activity over the internet. During several of these chats, JAHNER, using a web camera attached to his computer, sent a live video feed over the Internet showing himself engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Concurrent with the sexually explicit conversations, "hawkeyefl2000" discussed plans to meet with the undercover agent in Las Vegas so that they could have actual sexual contact, not merely "cyber sex." On March 14, 2002, "hawkeyefl2000" sent the undercover agent an e-mail containing his travel itinerary. Undercover agents trailed JAHNER from his arrival at the Las Vegas airport on April 11, to a rental car agency, and to a motel. The next day, JAHNER followed through with his plans to meet, who he thought was the 14-year-old girl, at the bowling alley at the Suncoast Casino in Summerlin, and was arrested by FBI agents. At the time of his arrest, JAHNER was carrying a digital camera and two disks. During a search of JAHNER's hotel room in Las Vegas, agents found lingerie that JAHNER had purchased for the 14-year-old, a bottle of Viagra, some condoms, a laptop computer, two boxes of disks, and a web camera.

JAHNER's sentencing is set for October 4, 2002. JAHNER is facing up to 15 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine on each count. The actual sentence, however, will be dictated by the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and will be imposed at the discretion of the Court.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden states that the prosecution of cybercrime such as this is a top priority for the District of Nevada. The importance of prosecuting and convicting individuals who prey on juveniles on the internet cannot be overstated - this defendant traveled from Florida to Nevada determined to have sex with a juvenile. Fortunately, with the assistance and expertise of FBI Special Agents who specialize in investigating this type of crime, we have been able to deter future acts by this defendant which may have led to an actual assault or rape of a juvenile.

The case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nancy J. Davis and Margaret M. Stanish.